Bill To Extend Downtown Group May Be Doomed In Tallahassee

FORT LAUDERDALE - — Too little time and too much controversy surrounding a proposed civic center in Broward County may doom a bill to extend the life of the Downtown Development Authority.

That's what Broward legislators learned at a public hearing Friday to discuss a bill that would extend the life of the agency to the year 2030 so that it could issue bonds to help build the civic center. Otherwise, the DDA is set to go out of existence in 2010.

H. Wayne Huizenga, who is looking to move his hockey team from Miami, wants the county to own the civic center. His Florida Panthers would be the anchor tenant. He is eyeing five sites in Broward and one in Dade.

"This [passing the bill) is not going to be an easy task to be able to do this at this late date," said David Sigerson, executive director of the Broward delegation.

With only two weeks left in the legislative session, the bill has yet to be approved by Broward legislators and sent to committees before being voted on by the full House and Senate.

The delegation will take the first step on Thursday when it votes on the bill in Tallahassee.

Its chance of passing are questionable, considering the late date and the fact that Broward legislators killed a separate proposal this week to levy a penny tax at large Broward eateries to pay for the center.

Delegation Chairman Sen. Matthew Meadows, D-Fort Lauderdale, said he thinks his colleagues can separate the two issues.

The center is in limbo while Huizenga and his representatives regroup to decide how to proceed.

"We're just right now letting everything sit and taking the weekend to think about it all," Alex Muxo, an aide to Huizenga, said on Friday.

While backers explore other ways to raise taxes for the center, including a tax on day cruises, gas taxes and bonds, Huizenga may attend a 4 p.m. presentation Monday at the proposed arena site in Sunrise near Sawgrass Mills mall.

Friday's agenda didn't include the dead restaurant tax but it was mourned at the hearing.

Its death has supporters worried that the project won't be built now that it has lost one source of financing and another, a proposed 2-cent hike in the hotel bed tax, is jeopardized.

Hoteliers said they won't support raising the bed tax unless the center's costs are shared by other businesses. The county Hotel and Motel Association board may meet Monday to discuss the bed tax.

One compromise being talked about privately among arena backers is a penny bed tax hike. But whether that would raise enough money is uncertain.

Two residents who spoke against the bill said they don't want downtown to be overdeveloped, and they don't want a civic center in the business core.

Although the bill grew out of the civic center proposal, the DDA wants to be around to do more to create a more vibrant downtown. That could mean widening roads and sidewalks, building parking garages and helping make the New World Aquarium a reality, DDA Chairman D. Fredrico Fazio said.

Said Fazio: "There are a lot of things on our plate that we'd like to get done."